In the Shadow and the Light
by ScipioSmith
Summary: An empire of light sends its envoys to Equestria, claiming it wants nothing more than to protect them from darkness. Twilight grows suspicious that these are the kind of friends Equestria wants or needs, but if they will not have the Empire's friendship must they suffer its enmity?
1. Meet the Neighbours

Chapter 1

Meet the Neighbours

The sun was shining upon Ponyville and the lands around. Squirrels squirreled, birds sang, mice cheeped, barely a cloud in the sky. This slightly syruppy pastoral scene was unexpectedly broken by the sound of Scootaloo beating her wings at top speed as she roared through the fields on her scooter.

In their red cart tied to the scooter's rear, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle clung to one another for dear life as Scootaloo achieve speeds that would have put many a pegasus to shame, not to mention more than a few earth pony sprinters. When Scootaloo had asked them to go for a ride with him before lunch, this was not what either of them had imagined.

"Do you have to go so fast, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom yelled. "At this rate I'm gonna feel too sick to eat anything."

Scootaloo looked back, then thought better of it when she almost swerved and crashed into an unhelpfully placed boulder, "Rainbow Dash said that if I want to get up into the air I need to tone my wing muscles. She said they were underdeveloped. She also said that the best way to tone my muscles was to pull heavy weights using my wings."

"Heavy weights," Apple Bloom said. "You'd better not be implying something Scootaloo!"

"No, yes, kind of but not really," Scootaloo said. "Come on girls, you want me to achieve my dreams don't you? What if my destiny is to get a flying cutie mark but you two keep me from learning how to fly because you wouldn't help me develop my wings enough to fly and I end up a blank flank forever because my friends abandoned me! How would you feel then?" She did look back this time, giving a smile of encouragement that contained just a hint of pleading.

Apple Bloom sighed, "Okay, if yer gonna-" There was a sound like thunder, a great rolling crack that echoed through the air, and a flash of light to split the sky in two. Apple Bloom's eyes closed in the face of the brightness, and when she opened them again she saw that the sky had been split in two: there was a swirling vortex of purple magic, looking like the mouth of a tunnel into the air, sitting right in front of them where before there had been nothing but green fields and blue skies.

"Scootaloo, look out!" Sweetie Belle yelled.

Scootaloo looked back, squawked in alarm like an aggravated chicken, and swerved hard to the right as she tried to avoid driving straight into that portal-doorway whatever. The scooter squealed as it skidded along the grass, leaving smoke black tracers along the grass, and Scootaloo felt herself losing control before both scooter and the red cart it towed along went bottom over top, tossing the young ponies in all directions. Scootaloo felt her head strike the ground, the impact cushioned by her helmet, and then felt the scooter whack her on the nose, the impact cushioned not at all and it hurt like a, well like a whack to the nose by a scooter. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle spilled out of the cart to land in a heap on top of one another.

Scootaloo sat up, rubbing the top of her helmet with one hoof, "What happened?"

"Bad driving," Apple Bloom murmured groggily.

"Hey, it isn't my fault," Scootaloo said. "It's that thing there!" she gestured at the swirling, pulsing purple portal before them, sitting there smug in front of them as though glad of the accident which it had caused. Scootaloo scowled at it, "What do you think it is?"

"Do you think some of Twilight's magic went wrong?" Apple Bloom said.

"She's gotten much better at it lately, especially since she became a princess," Sweetie Belle said. "I don't think she'd make something like this without telling anypony what she was up to."

"Well whatever it is, I think we ought to tell somepony about it," Apple Bloom said, picking herself up off the ground. "It might be-"

Her voice was cut off as a group of shapes emerged from out of the portal. Pony-like in shape, but much larger in form than any pony that the three crusaders had ever seen, larger even than Big Macintosh, who was the biggest pony in all of Ponyville. As they emerged from the portal, the crusaders could see that these new, strange creatures were clad in bulky armour of a dirty bronze colour, which made them look fat and round. Not a patch of bare skin was shown. Their faces were concealed behind helmets without a single slit or hole to show the pony behind the mask, even their eyes were hidden behind black tinted lenses. Strange whirring devices glowing with purple magic were attached to the backs of the ponies, or pony-like creatures in the armour. If they were creatures, and not just suits of armour powered by whatever on their backs. They walked in a succession of heavy thuds, like the march of elephants, and the earth buckled to their tread. They carried spears, and one of them bore a weapon which glowed at the tip with a magical aura.

Slowly, ponderously, creakingly, the eight things that had emerged from the other side of whatever that magical thing was spread out around the frightened cutie mark crusaders, staring at them from behind those black eyeholes. For several long moments they were silent, before one spoke, his voice muffled by all of his armour.

"Unless this is a trick at least we know the air is breathable."

"I don't care if this is a trick, I'm dying as it is," one of the armoured forms tore off his helmet to reveal a light blue stallion gasping for breath. "Cor, better out than in, eh?"

"Speak for yourself, some of us didn't have baked beans for breakfast," another of the armoured ponies said.

"Silence in the ranks," the centre pony said, his voice mild and soft as he took off his helmet. His head was that of a unicorn, perhaps a few years younger than the cakes, with the brightest green eyes that Scootaloo had ever seen; they seemed to burn as though there was a fire behind them. He regarded the Cutie Mark Crusaders with a thin smile that did not come close to reaching his eyes. "Now then, what have we here? Children?"

"Children?" the blue pony said. "Look more like slaves to me." Some of the other soldiers laughed.

"Intelligence would be more apposite at this stage," the green eyed unicorn said, still not raising his voice even by a hair. "Take them."

"Run, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom shouted. The rope tying cart to scooter had been severed, there was no way they could right and reattach it in time, but Scootaloo could still make it. "Run, get Applejack!" Her sister was the bravest, strongest pony she knew. She'd save them.

With deft speed, Scootaloo dodged the clumsy lunge of the armoured pony who reached for her, tearing across the distance to her fallen scooter like Fluttershy diving for a falling squirrel. She grabbed it, the handles muddy and cold against her hooves, and she set her wings to beating faster than ever before as she heard the creaking and thudding of at least one of the armoured ponies pursuing her.

She did not look back. She couldn't. Not even as the sounds of pursuit faded away behind her, the armoured ponies in all their bulk unable to match her speed, did she dare look back at what she'd fled from.

Apple Bloom...and Sweetie Belle...what kind of trouble had she left them in?

Scootaloo didn't stop, didn't let up, until she reached Sweet Apple Acres, the welcoming surroundings of the farm now only a grim counterpoint to the danger lurking beyond. She jumped over the outer fence and drove straight through the pig field, scattering the hogs in chaos before her. Big Macintosh must have heard the noise and commotion, for he was already running to meet Scootaloo even as Scootaloo herself, gasping for breath, let her tired and aching wings rest as the scooter slid to a halt.

"Scootaloo?" Big Macintosh's voice was suffused with worry. "I though you went out with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, where are they? Where's Apple Bloom?"

Scootaloo spoke in between gasps of breath, "Strange ponies...armoured...had to run...chased-"

A pair of strong hooves grabbed Scootaloo by the shoulders and lifted him up into the air. Scootaloo had only ever seen Big Macintosh get angry once before, and that had been frightening enough, but the rage in his eyes now dwarfed that he'd displayed in the earlier incident by a country mile, "You left them both with armoured ponies? Is that what you're saying? WHERE'S APPLE BLOOM?"

"Big Mac," Applejack came out of the barn, drawn by her brother's shouting. With her was one of Apple Bloom's many relatives, Braeburn, Scootaloo thought his name was. Both looked equally concerned at the shouting.

"It wasn't my fault," Scootaloo babbled, tears leaking from the edges of her eyes. "We were just riding along, and then there was this big light and this massive magical portal opened up in front of us, and then these ponies came out in tons of armour with spears and these glowing things on their backs, and there was a unicorn who said he wanted intelligence and Apple Bloom yelled at me to run and get you and I couldn't have done anything, honest I swear it."

"I believe you, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Big Mac, put her down now."

Big Macintosh lowered Scootaloo down onto the ground. Scootaloo said, "You are going to save them, right? I couldn't...if something happened and I got away, then I'd..."

Applejack placed a hoof on the young pegasus' shoulder, exchanging hard eyed glances with Big Mac. He nodded. She nodded back, "Braeburn?"

Braeburn said, "Been a while since I last ponied up for a posse. I'm in."

"Go over to the next field and ask Carrot Top if she'd kindly ride out with us. Scootaloo, honey, where did you go exactly?"

"West, down towards the Lonesome Pine," Scootaloo said. "We were about halfway there."

Applejack bent down, so that her eyes where level with Scootaloo's as she said, "I need you to do me a favour Scootaloo. I need you go on into Ponyville and get Twilight, Snowflake and Rainbow Dash, get them to follow us fast as they can." She smiled, "Don't worry, ain't nothing gonna happen to Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle."

As Scootaloo nodded, and sped off once more into Ponyville proper Applejack added, in a low murmur, "Not while I'm around."

* * *

Apple Bloom wriggled against the ropes that bound her. She and Sweetie Belle sat back to back, both tied up, while the foreign ponies worked around them. They had all taken off their bulky armour by now, revealing ordinary if muscular ponies. They were all earth ponies, except for their unicorn leader, and under the armour that had made them look eight feet tall they each turned out to have been wearing more ordinary armour like the Princess's guard wore, only dull iron instead of gleaming bronze. Their original armour lay neatly stacked beside the purple portal.

"As one of the natives escaped us, we may well have to fight soon," the unicorn said. "Therefore, having established that this immediate location is not toxic, I think it's best that we face whatever comes next in field armour. Sergeant Speartip, mount a piquet while I interrogate the prisoners."

"Aye sir," his sergeant, an earth pony with one eye blue as ice and one red as blood, gave a brisk salute before he began barking orders to the other earth ponies.

The unicorn circled Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, gazing down at them with those burning green eyes. Apple Bloom tried to stare back at him defiantly, but the fire in those eyes burned at her resolve, and she had to look away. She heard Sweetie Belle sniffling behind her.

"It'll be okay, Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom whispered. "Applejack will come soon, don't worry."

"I'm afraid if your sister comes here looking to pick a fight she will be in for a sore surprise, Miss Apple Bloom," the unicorn said, his voice crisp and cold. "My troops are well trained, and eager for a good tussle. They've seen little but barren rock these past few months."

Apple Bloom's head shot up so that she was once more looking at her captor. He stared at her coldly. His coat was grey, of a kind of mottled pattern so that some parts of him appeared a deeper shade than others, and there was a golden dragon tattooed on the left side of his face. He smiled, that fake smile that didn't go anywhere near those eyes of his.

"How did you?" Apple Bloom began.

"I have your names, courtesy demands I offer my name in return. I am Lord Shadow Viper, First Spear of the Risen Empire, and I have seen into the very heart of your mystery, young Miss Apple Bloom. I know that you live on an apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres by name and what a charming name it is, with your sister, brother and aged grandmother. I know, without even having to ask 'Child of the far-spread Apple family, what is this region where we find ourselves?' that Ponyville is its name in the land of Equestria. You do not know what your own world is called. Indeed of the world beyond Ponyville you are quite shockingly ignorant, but then I suppose you are only a foal."

_How does he know all this? Is he reading my mind? How?_

Apple Bloom screwed her eyes tight shut, "Close your eyes Sweetie Belle, he can read what you're thinking. We can't tell these fellas anything."

She heard Lord Shadow chuckle in the darkness beyond her eyelids, "Were you both full grown I would have my stallions prise open your eyelids until I had all the information I wanted. You should be grateful that you are yet foals. However, this childish games-playing is pointless. I understand your thoughts, your feelings, when I was a younger pony I too was pleased to pretend that an older sibling would protect me from all the sadness of the world. But this is not a game, Miss Apple Bloom, nor is it a nightmare; closing your eyes will not make the monsters go away. I can protect you from the monsters, myself and my men, but you must help me. You and Miss Sweetie Belle both. Now, what is the name of the warlord who rules this region and to whom does he or she owe their allegiance?"

"Warlord," Sweetie Belle said. "We don't have a warlord, all we've got is the mayor."

"Mayor?" Shadow said. "This mayor must answer to someone, if not to a warlord then to a prince."

"There's Princess Twilight Sparkle, I guess," Sweetie Belle said. "But she doesn't rule or anything, she just lives here."

"Princesses do not 'just live' anywhere, you foolish child," Shadow said. "If she does not rule openly then she must do so by proxy or by subtle manipulations. Such an approach would be fitting for one who bears a darkfriend name."

"I don't know what by proxy means, but we ain't stupid and Twilight ain't like that," Apple Bloom said loudly. "She was our friend before she became a princess, and she ain't put on no haughty ways or nothing since."

"Then who is in charge?" Shadow said.

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to tell this Lord Shadow that she wasn't about to tell him nothing like that, when suddenly a shout struck the clouds that made Apple Bloom's heart leap to join them.

"Give back my sister you thieving varmints!" Apple Bloom opened her eyes to see her sister standing with the sun behind her, one hoof pawing angrily at the ground, her brows furrowed with a thunderous anger.

"And unhand Sweetie Belle this instant you uncouth band of ruffians." Rarity stood alongside her, snorting like an angry bull challenging an interloper in its field.

"Applejack!"

"Rarity!"

And their big sisters weren't alone. Big Macintosh was there, and Braeburn; Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Zecora, Carrot Top, Snowflake the comically over-muscled pegasus, Thunderlane, Lyra Heartstrings and even Caramel and Bon-Bon. They all stood there, a single united mass, staring down the foreign ponies who snatched up spears and formed a line to meet them. Their faces were grim and resolute, their posture angry, and the sunlight behind them rendered them golden as the autumn leaves.

* * *

"So tell me Twilight, do you feel grander in dignity,  
Since your elevation to the state of royalty?"

Twilight shrugged as she and Zecora made their way down Ponyville's mane street, "Not really. At least, not since I got back in Ponyville, my friends are very good at making sure I don't get a swelled head." Twilight chuckled, "I don't think anyone could get an over-inflated sense of their dignity after Pinkie Pie had covered their quill in sneezing powder."

Zecora nodded, "Now that you have wings you need your friends around,  
To help you keep your feet firm on the ground."

Twilight opened her mouth to reply when the air was split by the sound of shrieking Scootaloo.

"Twilight! Help!"

Scootaloo skidded to a halt in front of Twilight and Zecora, and began to babble explanations about strange ponies and magical vortices and - more importantly - how Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had been kidnapped and Applejack and Big Mac were going to try and save them.

"Can you help?" Scootaloo said. "You have to help. You're a princess now, doesn't that mean that you have to do something?"

Had the situation been less urgent Twilight might have replied that she had hardly been shy about helping out Ponyville back when she was still a student, but this was no time to be getting into arguments with a frightened young filly.

"Zecora, will you come with me?" Twilight said. "The girls might be hurt by the time we get to them."

The zebra's face was grim and her voice held a winter chill as she said, "Anypony who dares to harm a hair of Apple Bloom,  
Will find my arts can not just heal, but also doom."

Scootaloo's face broke out in a smile of sheer relief, "Thanks Twilight. Applejack told me to get Rainbow Dash as well."

"I'm right here kid, and I heard all about it," Rainbow Dash dropped from the cloud on which she had been enjoying a mid morning nap. "I'm with you, Twilight."

"And what about me?" Rarity demanded in a voice loud enough for the whole street to hear. "My own sister is kidnapped by ruffians you what, planned to tell me when you brought her back home safe and sound. I don't think so! I'm coming with you and you won't stop me short of tying me up before you leave."

People found it easy to forget, faced with the melodramatic dressmaker that was Rarity's normal public face, that this was also the lady who had once kicked a manticore in the face. Twilight did not forget that as she saw the expression on Rarity's face at the moment.

Meanwhile, thanks to her lack of volume control, whispers were spreading all through the street.

"What was that? Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are in trouble!"

"Those poor fillies, did they say it was other ponies threatening them?"

"We should help out."

"I'll come too, Princess Twilight," Lyra said, striding forward with a determined expression on her face. Twilight remembered that, while music may have been her specialty, she had also been captain of the duelling club in their senior year at Princess Celestia's School.

"Yeah, I want to help as well," Thunderlane said.

"YEAH!" bellowed Snowflake, waving one hoof in the air.

"Okay," Twilight said. "But we haven't a moment to loose. Everypony who wants to come, we move out now!"

It had been a fierce gallop - Twilight could still move faster on her legs than on her wings, so only the pegasi flew - to catch up with Applejack before she could catch up with the intruders. But they had caught up, and now the whole party faced these interlopers as one united mass.

There were thirteen of them to eight of these strange ponies. A thinner margin of odds than Twilight would have liked considering the spears and the way these ponies looked like they meant business. But, with her magic, she should be able to protect the others; thankfully only one of these other ponies was a unicorn, and they did not have a single pegasus with them.

The two groups faced each other, the armoured line and the unarmoured mass, staring at one another across the forty yards that separated them.

"You want us to use force, sir, drive them off?" an earth pony with mismatched eyes and three stripes tattooed on his shoulder said.

"Oh, I hardly think so," the unicorn said in an easy manner. He strolled in front of his own line, as casually as if he were taking his morning constitutional, before stopping directly in front of Twilight to regard the Ponyville rescue party.

"Racing ponies, farmers and a young lady who did a bit of duelling at school," he said. "The fact that you would come here to face real soldiers, while bereft of any troops of your own, speaks well to your courage. It speaks less well to the concern of your liege-lord for his servants but nevertheless."

"We don't have a liege lord," Twilight said brusquely. "I demand that you those fillies at once or-"

"You demand? In whose name?" the unicorn said.

"Wuh, what?" Twilight, completely thrown off by such a response, floundered in her reply.

"By whose authority do you make demands?"

Twilight raised her head, "The authority of Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun and ruler of all the land of Equestria, who gave me my wings and the right to act in her name as I see fit."

A slow, small smile played across the unicorn's grey face, "A princess of the sun, indeed? How very fascinating."

"I don't much care what you find fascinatin' or what you think about our courage," Applejack yelled. "You let my sister go before I-"

"But of course," the unicorn said. "Sergeant, untie the young ladies and return them to the care of their families. It appears we have worried the elder sisters considerably."

The sergeant scowled, "But sir-"

"I dislike repeating myself, sergeant," the unicorn said, the air around him growing as chilly as the snap in his voice.

The sergeant bowed his head, "Aye sir."

In a few moments he had undone the bonds that constrained Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, and they rushed with joyous shrieks into the welcoming hooves of Applejack and Rarity.

The unicorn smiled coldly as he surveyed the reunion, "I hope you forgive the presumption ma'am, but from your alicorn nature I deduce that you are the Princess Twilight Sparkle of whom I have heard tell?"

_He knows too much,_ Twilight frowned, "I am."

"And I am Lord Shadow Viper, at your service," Shadow essayed a courteous bow of the head. "I do hope you will forgive the misunderstanding, as well as the inconvenience caused to all of you brave ponies," the unicorn said.

"Misunderstanding?" Applejack said. "What kind of misunderstanding leads to tying up two innocent fillies who never did nothing to any of y'all?"

"They cringed from us in fear, and the orange one fled to raise the countryside in arms against our presence," Shadow said. "Where I come from we have a saying: only the guilty run."

"Well that's a dumb saying, ever think she ran because she was scared?" Rainbow Dash demanded. "Did you ever wonder if you might have shocked somepony appearing out of some magical whatsit like that? Where are you from anyway, and what are you doing here in Equestria?"

"I will gladly answer any questions which Princess Twilight puts to me until she is satisfied with my answers," Shadow said, looking at Rainbow Dash out of the side of his eye. "But I will not be interrogated in that tone by a common labouring pony. When nobles converse, servants should tread softly and keep tight reign upon their tongues."

_Oh this won't end well._ Twilight barely resisted the urge to face-hoof in front of the soldier ponies.

"Servants? Common? I'll wipe that look off your face you smug jerk!" Rainbow Dash sped forward, hoof cocked back for a knockout blow. She swung, "Take this!"

There was a smacking sound as Shadow caught Rainbow's blow in one hoof, stopping Dash dead in her tracks without looking around. He kept his eyes fixed on Twilight as Rainbow stared wide eyed, in awe of the unicorn's speed that he could keep up with her movements with such little effort.

"In a spirit of friendship, and in penance for our own rash actions, I am prepared to forgo any formal complaint of this incident," Shadow said. "But I would advise, in the interests of preventing accidents in future, that you keep a tighter reign upon your troops."

"They aren't my troops," Twilight said coolly. "They're my friends."

"Of course, to forge bonds with the ponies under ones command is always desirable, but they must still jump when the voice of command barks forth."

"No, you don't understand," Twilight said. "I don't command these ponies, I don't rule these ponies. I may be a princess, but I'm still just one of them."

"Is that so?" Shadow did not sound as if he believed it.

"Yes it is, and I'm not the one who has to explain themselves here," Twilight shouted. She had let this pony and his games playing distract her for too long. "Who are you, where are you from and what are you doing here?"

The fake smile never once left Lord Shadow's face, "I am, as I said, Lord Shadow Viper, second son to Lord Golden Viper and First Spear of the Risen Empire of the Sun Unconquerable. It is from the Empire that we are come, my ponies and I, from the world of Illion which is the Empire's heart. As to the what, we are...explorers, my troops and I; for hundreds of years the Empire has sent out ponies across the stars to seek out new worlds and determine what, if anything, is to be found there. I imagine that the young pegasus who brought word of our arrival here told you that we were wearing considerably more armour than we are now."

Twilight nodded.

"The hazardous environments armour is designed to allow the Empire's humble servants to explore places which would normally be incapable of supporting pony life. In the six months I have been leading this detail I have encountered two worlds of barren airless rock and one world where the air was full of volcanic ash from the volcanoes that littered the landscape. That said, though invaluable in such places the armour is very uncomfortable and of little use in battle: hence we removed it as soon as we established that we could survive here without it."

"And the spears?" Twilight said.

Shadow shrugged, "Who knows where the enemies of the Empire may be found?"

Twilight took a few steps closer towards this unicorn from another world, "And what will you do now, lord explorer?"

"That rather depends upon you, ma'am," Shadow said. "And on whether you decide to help or hinder us. What would you have me do?"

"Go home," Twilight said. "Close your portal behind you and never return." The scholar part of her mind raged inside her head as she said those words. She recognised the complexity of the magic involved - cross-planetary travel, could you imagine it! The magic must be an exact combination of subtlety and raw power. And just how powerful were the unicorns keeping it open on the other side, for Shadow himself was not operating it - and she wanted to know so much, about other worlds, about their magic, about their culture, everything; it ached at her that she was consigning all these opportunities to oblivion. But the other parts of her, the part that tried to be a good friend, a considerate pony, a wise leader like Celestia, a good princess, knew that it was not worth putting her fellow ponies in danger for the sake of her thirst for knowledge.

Shadow Viper looked rather hurt, "I beg of you ma'am, do not let anger - however well deserved - goad you to rash judgements. I think if you would but think rationally you would see that there is much advantage to be had from a relationship between your people and mine.

"We have done wrong, I concede it. I acted in haste and with too much violence. For that I offer ten thousand apologies, but do not let my failings taint your opinion of my people. Give me the opportunity to make amends: my troops have strong backs and willing hearts, there must be assistance we could offer around your home. And in the longer term, I ask you please consider the advantages that could result from trade between our peoples: trade in goods, in knowledge. And we can protect you."

"Protect us from what?"

"From whatever or whomever you need protecting from," Shadow said. "At least put the matter to your Sun Princess, let her deliberate upon the issue."

Twilight felt a pang of guilt at the feeling of relief that came over her at the thought of passing this momentous historic decision to her mentor, who with years of accumulated wisdom would surely come to the best possible choice for all the ponies of Equestria. For what if Twilight herself made the wrong choice, in sending them away or failing to do so? But what if delaying, in sending a message to Celestia and then awaiting a reply, was in itself the wrong choice? What if, by the time it was decided to expel the Imperial ponies, it was too late and there were too many of them?

"How do I know that I can trust you?" Twilight demanded. "You invaded our land."

"Invaded is a harsh word, ma'am, we did not know the land belonged to you," Shadow said. "We had no idea what we would find here. But I understand why you might wish for sureties. What is it that you would have of me."

"Until Princess Celestia makes her decision, nopony else can cross through that gate," Twilight said. "Nopony but you eight can enter Equestria until Princess Celestia says otherwise. You cannot stay the night in Ponyville proper until Princess Celestia says otherwise. Can you guarantee that?"

Shadow said, "In the Empire, we have a custom of asking ponies we come across to place themselves into one our good faith. It seems that we are at a situation where you must trust me not to bring in reinforcements, and I must trust you to not to betray and murder me and my followers."

"You aren't giving a guarantee," Twilight said.

"Oh there are no guarantees, that's why it has faith in the title," Shadow said breezily. "But I will keep faith with you, Princess Twilight, if you will keep faith with me. I can give you no certain way to gauge my truthfulness, but I can give you my word as a devoted servant of the Empress and as a scion of the House Viper, and it is said that the word of a Viper is worth more than all the gold and jewels which we have placed in the Empress' treasury."

Twilight looked at him. Shadow went on, "It is a lot of gold, I assure you. You have my word, ma'am, do I have yours upon the safety of the ponies under my command."

Twilight smiled, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She put her hoof in her eyes, resisting the urge to giggle at Shadow's somewhat bemused expression.

"In that case, then may I see this Ponyville of yours," Shadow said, recovering quickly. "I am sure you have other questions, but surely you can ask them as we walk?"

Applejack looked up from comforting Apple Bloom, "What's that? You're going to let these varmints into Ponyville? Twilight, you can't!"

Twilight frowned, "What they did was wrong Applejack, and even they admit that. But they didn't hurt Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle, and they want to make amends for what they did. Please, what we have here is bigger than any of us, I have to let Princess Celestia make the final decision."

Applejack scowled, "Any of y'all come near me or mine again-"

"If any of my fellows do bother you I shall take the lash to them myself," Shadow said. "Now then ma'am, do we have an accord?"

"So long as you keep to the terms of our agreement," Twilight said.

"But of course," Shadow said. "I do hope though, that the ponies I have bought with me will be able to travel through the gate to and fro. I wouldn't want the Empire to think we were in difficulties. They might send a search party."

Twilight nodded, she saw the sense in letting him report on his whereabouts.

"Capital," Shadow said, that unwavering smile still plastered to his face. "Trooper Polly, kindly go back through the gateway and inform the officer of the day that the gateway is to be left open but on my authority no pony except you is to pass through it until I say otherwise. I shall submit a written report for the eyes of the Prince-Imperial and the council tonight and every day hereafter. Return as speedily as you can."

"Yes sir," Polly, a wiry mare with a black mane plastered to the sides of her neck, gave a brisk salute before darting into the swirling purple portal.

"Now then," Shadow said. "Shall we go?"

"Leave the spears," Twilight said.

Shadow struck such an offended pose that even Rarity must have thought he was overdoing it a little, "Why Princess Twilight, will you make mewling kittens of us? Are you so distrustful that you must pull our teeth thus?"

"I just don't want any pony to have any cause for concern," Twilight said in a brisk tone that she hoped would disguise the fact she had avoided answering either of his questions.

Shadow chuckled, "I quite understand. Stack arms beside the hazard armour, Trooper Obsidian, stand guard and make sure nopony makes off with any of the Empress' property. It all has to be accounted for after all."

"Yes sir." the earth ponies swiftly stacked their spears next to their armour, planting the spearshafts into the ground and forming tripods with the spearheads touching. A black earth pony sat down in front of the arms and armour, an alert look upon his face.

"And now that all unpleasantness is behind us," Shadow said. "Perhaps ma'am you will do us the courtesy of leading the way."

The Ponyville ponies closed in around the ponies from the Risen Empire, forming a tight phalax around them as though escorting criminals. Though some of his followers muttered at this, and cast suspicious looks around them, Shadow Viper himself appeared supremely unconcerned. In fact Twilight had the distinct impression that she herself was the only one who interested him, and that all the rest were just background noise.

"I'm sure you understand that I have a lot of questions about this Empire that you come from," Twilight said. "And about your intentions here."

"And I am sure you understand that I have as many questions regarding this place that I have just discovered," Shadow said.

"I'm sure you," Twilight replied as they walked back towards Ponyville. "But you came to our world uninvited, so that means I get my answers first."

"But of course," Shadow said. "I will tell you everything you wish to know which does not directly touch upon the Empire's security."

"That is an important caveat."

"If I asked you for details of Equestrian troop deployments would you answer me, fresh acquainted as we are?"

"No," Twilight said slowly, wondering how long she could keep him from finding out that there was no information on troop deployments because there were no troops to speak of. She did not want him to consider Equestria weak lest, in considering them weak, he also came to consider them prey.

"I am glad you understand," Shadow said, as if oblivious to her thoughts. "But you had questions?"

"What is this Empire of yours," Twilight said. "And why, how but more importantly why, are you exploring other worlds?"

"The Empire is the bastion of the light," Shadow said, a look of awe, or maybe even ecstasy, coming into his face as his voice softened into something approaching reverence. "The greatest achievement of ponykind, a monument to virtue and to courage. A nation built upon duty and self-sacrifice, defender of all that is good and enemy of all that is false and wicked. If lives of peace and prosperity exist anywhere in the universe it is because the Empire has made it so and kept it so with daily sacrifice.

"The Empire was founded by Sola, the Light-Bringer, after she defeated the dark lord Tirek and freed the sun from his captivity. Since then we have endured many perils, bested many foes, and with our creed we have made friends of many peoples and brought them into the Imperial fold and under our protection. Now twenty worlds acknowledge the sway of Sola, who maintains the rising and setting of the sun on each of them."

"Twenty worlds," Twilight felt her jaw drop. "She raises the sun on _twenty worlds_? I mean, I think Princess Celestia could probably do the same-"

"I doubt it very much," Shadow said.

"But it would wear her out to do it every day," Twilight said. "How does your Empress manage to run the Empire?"

"She does not," Shadow said. "Empress Sola, glory to her name, has retired into seclusion: she raises the sun, aligns the stars, watches over her children and battles on a higher plane with the forces of darkness to keep the fabric of this reality intact. The actual governance of the Empire falls to the Prince Imperial, a descendant of Sola, and to the council of the nobility and the senior officers of which I am one. As First Spear I am blessed beyond measure to be one of the few ponies living who has seen and spoken with the Empress herself."

"It sounds as though you are a pretty important pony back in the Empire," Twilight said.

"My rank is important," Shadow corrected her. "As a pony I am no more than a vessel for Sola's will. But the post of First Spear is a venerable one, and in theory gives me the right to command any troops or citizens as I see fit, even to take command of the whole army if I think it is in the Empire's best interests."

"I might ask what such an important pony is doing exploring with only a few ponies with him," Twilight said.

"And I might ask what an alicorn princess is doing in a, forgive me, small and rather provincial place," Shadow said, gesturing with one hoof to Ponyville, which was now spread out before them.

"I like it here," Twilight replied with some heat.

"And I wish I could glibly reply that I enjoy exploration of new worlds, but that would be false," Shadow said. "Suffice to say I quarrelled with my family and it seemed best to get away from them for a while. And I see that I never got around to telling you why we do this: because it is our destiny, because it is, was and has been Sola's will from the moment of her injury that we should seek out new life and strange new worlds; and because we are searching for a key, a key that will open the final door and lead to the ultimate salvation."

"A key? Some sort of magical key?" Twilight said.

"Perhaps. We will know it when we find it I think," Shadow said. "Who knows, it may even be here. And now, ma'am, may I ask a question in turn: with no soldiers to protect you how do you fare against demons when they come?"

"Against what now?"

Shadow looked at her as though she were mad, "You do not suffer from demon attacks here? Even at night the world is not rent and ponies savaged by creatures of the dark?"

"No," Twilight said. "Night and day are both perfectly safe, apart from a few creatures in the Everfree Forest but even they don't really bother ponies who stay out of the woods."

Shadow frowned, "And you have never heard of the Taint, or the Smooze?"

"What are those?"

"Extraordinary," Shadow said, but his face was troubled. "With your permission, my soldiers and I shall camp on the outskirts of this town while we await a reply from your Princess Celestia. Is that agreeable to you?"

Twilight nodded, and Shadow led his ponies into the west field to begin setting up their encampment.

"What do we do now, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Go home, keep your eyes open, be careful but don't start trouble," Twilight said. "That goes for everypony, and spread the word across town. Girls, are you okay."

Sweetie Belle nodded, but Apple Bloom said, "You should be careful of that unicorn Twilight, I think he can read minds."

"That's not possible," Twilight said. "No unicorn magic can allow a pony to read another pony's mind, and I haven't seen him using any magic at all yet."

"But he knew things I never told him," Apple Bloom said. "Like where I lived, and who my sister was, how did he do it?"

Twilight didn't have an answer for that. _Did I give away a lot more than I meant to?_ "You should both go home. And don't go wandering off for now, okay?"

"Don't worry Twilight, I'll keep a close eye on her so long as those ponies are still around," Applejack said. She led Apple Bloom away in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, the two girls flanked by Big Mac and Braeburn.

"We should get going too Sweetie Belle, mother and father must be worried sick," Rarity said. "Twilight, I know you did your best but I hope you don't mind when I say that having those people so close makes my skin crawl."

"You won't have to deal with them Rarity, I promise," Twilight said.

"Much obliged Twilight," Rarity said as she took her little sister home.

As the rescue party began to split up, Twilight ran straight to the library where she still lived in spite of her recent elevation. Almost before she had closed the door she had summoned Spike and began to pen a letter to her old teacher.

_Dear Princess Celestia,_

_I write this to you with news so incredible that I almost doubt you will believe me, but I swear that every word I right is the truth. We have been visited by ponies from another world. Travelling by magic these ponies who say they are from a place called the Risen Empire arrived outside of Ponyville, and after a brief misunderstanding that was sorted out just in time, I have persuaded them not to bring any more ponies here until you have made a decision on the matter. _

_They say that this Empire of theirs spans twenty worlds, all controlled by a single pony, and that they are continuously exploring new worlds for reasons that were rather poorly defined in my conversation with their leader, I may be able to learn more from him at a later date. It is the wish of this pony, a unicorn by the name of Shadow Viper, that relations open between the Empire and Equestria. I must tell you though, that although he called himself an explorer he and his ponies are also obviously soldiers and he did not hide the fact that they came prepared to fight, and his strong implication is the Empire has a sizeable military power. _

_Nevertheless he seemed agreeable enough in a reserved kind of way, I do not think he means us harm._

_Can you imagine it Princess, other worlds beyond our own inhabited by ponies? I don't know if the advantages of what we could learn outweigh the dangers we might be exposed to. I think only you have the wisdom to judge that._

_Your faithful student once and forever,_

_Princess Twilight Sparkle_

"It's all in the hooves of Princess Celestia now," Twilight murmured as Spike's green fire consumed her letter.


	2. Dog Soldiers

Chapter 2

Dog Soldiers

It was night time in Ponyville, the moon shining silver light upon the town. A fire burned in the library grate, candles illuminated the shelves and the books and the pacing figure of Twilight Sparkle as she walked up and down.

"She hasn't responded, why hasn't she responded?" Twilight demanded, rounding on the hapless Spike sitting on the staircase. "Are you sure that you haven't accidentally swallowed her letter by mistake or something."

"How would that even," Spike shook his head. "No, Twilight, for the last time you haven't had a response because there isn't one."

"Why not?" Twilight asked. "Doesn't Princess Celestia realise what a monumental moment this is for Equestria, for ponies everywhere? Doesn't she realise how urgent the situation is?"

"It's a big decision to just drop on somepony, even the princess," Spike murmured. He yawned, "Can we go to bed already?"

"No!" Twilight shouted so loud that Spike was lifted up into the air and turned around like a ball before landing on his back with a heavy thud. "We are going to stay awake and stay right here until Princess Celestia gets back to me with a response."

Spike looked aghast, "Huh? But she could be days in coming up with a reply!"

"Then you'd better find something to occupy your mind," Twilight said primly. "This issue is too important for us to miss something by doing something so silly and trivial as going to bed."

Spike rolled his eyes, "You know it won't do Equestria much good if you go crazy in front of the empire ponies."

"I am no going crazy," Twilight snapped. "I am treating this situation with the seriousness it demands. Why can't you understand how important this is. Other worlds, Spike, this is huge!"

"The only thing that feels huge to me right now is the weight on my eyelids," Spike grumbled by way of reply.

There was the sound of galloping hooves outside, a frantic banging on the library door, then the door was flung open and Zecora burst in, panting heavily. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw that her zebra friend was bleeding from a wound to the side, some sort of cut that stopped just before it would have disfigured her cutie mark. Blood was splashed across her black-and-white stripes.

"Zecora!" Twilight gasped. "What happened to you? Did the Empire do this?"

Zecora, still panting and gasping for breath, shook her head,

"In this the Empire ponies are blameless,

It was the Diamond Dogs who made this mess."

"The diamond dogs?" said Spike in a low moan.

Zecora nodded,

"They come in force, I'd say five hundred strong,

And claim that Ponyville has done them wrong,

I overheard them talk, before I was found,

Their clear intent is to lay waste this town."

"Oh no," Spike's moan was even louder now. "What do we do, Twilight? I don't think Rarity's whining will scare off five hundred of them."

"Calm down, Spike, we won't get anywhere by panicking," Twilight said. "Zecora, are you sure they mean to destroy Ponyville?"

"They tried to get me on their side," Zecora said.

"Appealing to my injured pride,

But when they saw I meant to stand with you,

They at once raised their arms to slay me too."

"Then there's only one thing we can do," Twilight said. "We need to get everypony out of Ponyville as quickly as possible. We may lose the town but we can still save everypony's life. Zecora, you should go to the doctors and have that wound taken care of, it looks nasty. Spike, I want you to wake up the Mayor and tell her to call an emergency town meeting in front of the town hall, with everypony to attend. And then write to Princess Celestia again and let her know what's happening. She might be able to send guards, or better yet a special train from Canterlot for the evacuation. If not, I'll have to try and protect everypony with a shield while we walk to Canterlot."

"Right," Spike leapt up, his weariness falling away from him. "But wait, what are you gonna do?"

"I'm going to go to Lord Shadow's camp and warn him to flee," Twilight said. "If stays where he is he and his seven ponies will be overrun when the Diamond Dogs get here."

"Forget it Twilight, there isn't time!"

"Just because they acted badly doesn't mean I'll condemn them to death," Twilight smiled to take the sting off her words. "Don't worry. Just go get the Mayor, I won't be long. Zecora, thank you, for warning us."

Zecora bowed her head in exhaustion,

"Since you accepted me, Ponyville has been my home,

I could not let the diamond dogs unchallenged roam."

Twilight saw Spike off in the direction of the Town Hall, then galloped as fast as she could out of Ponyville towards the south field where Shadow Viper and his ponies had pitched up. Night lay heavily upon the land, and Twilight couldn't make much out, but luckily the Imperial ponies had already lit a fire almost as if they knew she would need to find them in the night. So she galloped for that light, kicking up dust with her hooves as she did so, until she was close enough to make out makeshift tents arrayed in a tight cluster, and ponies sitting around their fire cooking dinner in a big iron pot.

"Lord Shadow, Lord Shadow I need to- aargh!" Twilight abruptly felt the cessation of ground beneath her feet. Her wings flapped furiously, but not quickly enough to stop her from falling headfirst into a pit.

"Ugh," Twilight moaned.

Shadow Viper poked his head out over the lip of the ditch, his green eyes gleaming in the darkness, "Sorry about that. I didn't think anypony would be coming to call at this late hour. Would you like a hoof?"

"I'm fine," Twilight grumbled, flapping her wings to fly out of the ditch. "Did you just dig this?"

"Regulations state that any camp, permanent or temporary, be defended with a ditch and palisade in the absence of more durable defences," Shadow said. "We haven't the wood for a palisade, so a ditch will have to do. We may be only eight strong, Lady Twilight, but we are still soldiers of the Empire."

"Right," Twilight answered in a noncommittal tone. "Anyway, I came here to tell you you have to leave, right now. A horde of Diamond Dogs is on its way to sack Ponyville. We're evacuating, and if you stay here then you'll get attacked for certain. You should get back through your gateway."

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he gazed into Twilight's purple orbs, "A less trusting pony might think this a ruse to get rid of us, ma'am."

"I'm not lying," Twilight insisted. "There are five hundred Diamond Dogs on their way here right now! They injured my friend Zecora! You need to get back through your gateway and seal it behind you. If the Diamond Dogs find the portal then-"

Shadow cut her off with a bark of laughter, "That would be rather amusing actually. The Fighting Fifth has guard of the Hub at present. Yes that would be a sight to see if there were only some way to arrange it. But I don't think there is any need to panic ma'am. Certainly no need for you all to run and abandon your homes."

Twilight blinked, "Are you taking this seriously? There are _five hundred_ Diamond Dogs on their way here right now."

"Sergeant Speartip!"

"Sir?"

"Get the arms and armour and have the troops gear up. We're going dog hunting."

"Aye sir, that sounds like fun."

"You're going to fight?"

"I mean to do more than that ma'am, I mean to save Ponyville and prove the goodwill of the Empire to you once and for all," Shadow said. "Give me to leave to summon eighty ponies through the gateway and I guarantee you will have nothing to worry about."

"I-" Twilight swallowed the first response out of her mouth, which was that she couldn't let him do that. But on second thoughts, why couldn't she? She had refused to allow unfettered traffic through the gateway because she couldn't know his motives, but that was just the thing: the intent of Lord Shadow Viper could only be guessed at, the intent of the Diamond Dogs was all too terribly clear.

"You can't guarantee you won't turn on us as soon as the battle is over, can you?" Twilight asked.

"Place yourselves in our good faith, ma'am," Shadow said smugly.

"I thought so," Twilight sighed. "All right. But if the ponies of Ponyville want to run then we're going to evacuate, no matter what you say."

Shadow nodded, "As you wish. Sergeant!"

"Sir?"

"Stand fast a moment, I'll write you some orders under my seal," Shadow summoned paper and quill with his magic, scribbled some hasty lines upon it, then sealed it with a wax seal in the shape of a slithering snake. "Go through the gateway when you get there and deliver this to the officer of the day, he'll give you a company of Line Horse. Double back to Ponyville with them, no delay, we've a lot of work to do. And have somepony bring my spear and armour to town."

"Aren't you coming sir?"

"I'm going in to Ponyville with the Lady Twilight," Shadow said. "Carry on, Sergeant."

Twilight and Shadow ran back to Ponyville nearly as fast as Twilight had ran to get there - though she did not fall into the ditch this time - and when they arrived found the citizens already assembled in front of the town hall. The Mayor stood on the steps above the populace, raising one hoof at their excited, frantic muttering.

"What's all this about? What's going on?"

"Is it those strange ponies?"

"Are we in danger?"

"Calm down everypony," Mayor Mare said. "Keep calm. Princess Twilight has asked me to call this meeting and I am sure that when she gets here she will explain every- ah, Princess Twilight! Welcome, Your Highness."

Normally Twilight would have begged off being called Your Highness, but these were not normal circumstances. She galloped up the town hall steps, Shadow not far behind her, to address the populace.

"Filies and gentlecolts, not long ago Zecora reached me with some shocking news: a horde of five hundred Diamond Dogs is approaching Ponyville, intent on destroying the town. I've already written to Princess Celestia, but we have to face the possibility that no help will get here before the dogs arrive."

The ponies began to gasp in shock and horror, looking from one to another wildly.

"Are they going to kill us?" Mrs Cake asked.

"What did we do to them?" Bon Bon wanted to know.

"How soon are they gonna get here?"

"What shall we do?"

"Hold on now, calm down y'all," Applejack said loudly. "I'm sure Twilight already has a plan cooked up in that great brain of hers, don't ya sugarcube?"

"Discounting help from Canterlot, I think we have two options," Twilight said. "The first is to evacuate Ponyville. I should be able to protect everypony with a magical shield, so that even if the Diamond Dogs catch up to us we will be able to make it to safety."

"Run away?" Rainbow Dash sound aghast. "Aw, come on Twilight, we can take these bums."

"And what if you can't?" asked Cranky. "Are we supposed to risk our lives for your arrogance?"

"There is another way," Twilight said. "Lord Shadow Viper of the Risen Empire has offered to defend Ponyville against the Diamond Dogs. I have already granted him permission to bring eighty ponies through the gate for this purpose."

"Eighty ponies against five hundred Diamond Dogs?" Mr Cake said.

"Eighty soldiers of the Empire," Shadow corrected him. "And each brave pony worth a hundred snarling savages. Lady Twilight has already made it clear she will not force you to remain in your homes. If you wish to be cowards I will to stop you: run, and trust to Lady Twilight's magic. Your homes will be waiting for you when you return, I will make sure of it. But if the thought of strangers defending your town while you slink away shames you even a little, if you would aid those willing to risk their lives for you, then I will not refuse your aid. "

_What happened to letting everypony make their own decision?_ Twilight wondered.

Applejack stepped out of the crowd, "This here is Apple land, given to us by Princess Celestia herself. The sweat of our family is sunk into the soil, and I can't say I like the idea of leaving it for a pack of mangy varmints. But I like the idea of risking Apple Bloom and Granny Smith even less. You sure you can beat these mutts?"

"I would stake my life upon it," Shadow smiled lightly. "I am staking my life upon it."

"Then the Apples are with you, I guess."

"And so are the Riches," declared Filthy Rich.

"Me too! Me too!" and soon everypony had pledged their support to defend Ponyville, their home, from those who would destroy it.

Still wearing that slightly supercilious smile, Shadow turned to Twilight and said, "Orders, ma'am?"

Twilight shrugged, "This is your field of expertise, not mine. What do you think we should do?"

"Even after my sergeant gets back with the company we shan't have a lot of trained soldiers, and I don't want to put civilians in the front line. So we must force the dogs to attack from the direction of our choosing. Everypony! If I were to ask you to dig a ditch around three quarters of Ponyville, exposing the western approach to town, in a single night would that be possible?"

"Ah reckon so, with Twilight to organise us," Applejack said. "Ain't that right, Twilight?"

Twilight blushed a little, "Okay everypony, if we're going to do this we don't have much time. Break into your Winter Wrap Up teams! Applejack, Rainbow Dash, your teams will be responsible for digging the ditch. Applejack start at the north and work south, Rainbow Dash start south and work north, circling around the east side of town. Fluttershy, your team will go all around Ponyville and assemble everypony too young, old, sick or infirm to fight and get them into the Town Hall behind me. When the fighting breaks out I'll use a spell to protect them in there. Once that's done I need you assemble every pony with medical training in case it becomes necessary."

Twilight looked out across the sea of faces, her friends and fellow citizens, noting their determination, their strength, their courage, "Nopony here wants to fight. But we've all given of ourselves to make lives in Ponyville, to make this town the great place that it is. We all have precious memories of this place. It is our home, and now we have to fight to keep it that way. But if we work together, then we can overcome this challenge the same way we've overcome all the others. Let's go, ponies!"

"Yeah!" they shouted, and under Twilight's supervision everypony set to and got to work. They worked through the night, digging the ditch around town and assembling the non-combatants at a safe location. They only paused for work when the sound of drums began to roll through the darkness, which turned out not to be the arrival of the Diamond Dogs but of Lord Shadow's reinforcements.

Digging stopped as the ponies looked up to see their would-be deliverers march into town. Eighty seven ponies, including those Shadow had come through the gate with originally, in a column of fours led by an officer in gleaming armour and two little colts playing a fife and a snare drum. They were armoured in iron - save for their leaders whose raiment was silver - with blue crested helmets and spears that shone in the starlight. Their standard, born by a pony wearing a wolf-pelt, looked like a dragon's head crafted out of bronze with a wind-sock stuck to the end. Twilight thought it looked rather silly, for all that they had tried to make the dragon's head look wild and ferocious, until the night wind caught the sock and began to blow through the dragon's mouth and out through the cloth tube at the back, creating a sound not unlike a dragon's savage howling. It made her shiver just a little.

The troop leader, a unicorn mare in silver armour and a pearl-embroidered cape, trotted up to Shadow with Sergeant Speartip hot upon his heels. Both ponies saluted Lord Shadow.

"Lieutenant Sunburst, Second Company, Fighting Fifth Legion, reporting as ordered sir."

"Capital, lieutenant, absolutely capital," Shadow replied.

"Everypony get back to work," Rainbow Dash said. "We don't have time to stand around gawping."

Twilight joined the Imperial officers as digging resumed.

"What's our plan sir?" Speartip asked.

"The locals have already set to work digging a ditch around the town, that will force the enemy to attack from the west. When they arrive I will break their line, and then the company will deliver a hammer-blow to shatter them."

Sunburst frowned, "We could always go looking for them. Ambush them in the dark?"

"These creatures live underground, they probably see better in darkness than we do, in the main," Shadow said. "A night attack could go wrong too easily. A defensive posture will serve us better and enable us to bring local support to bear."

"You mean to let the locals fight sir?" Speartip asked.

"As a reserve, if they are willing," Shadow said.

"I'm sure you'll get plenty of volunteers," Twilight said.

The digging was finished as the morning mists began to gather, just before the rising of the sun. Twilight watched as Shadow Viper donned his armour for the coming battle. He moved with a slow but steady sense of purpose, using his hooves instead of his magic as if he wanted to savour the feel of the armour, the weight of it in his grip, before he put it on. He wore a coat of barded mail that covered his body down to his knees, and his lower legs were protected by manicae of interlocking armoured plates. Over the mail he wore armour such as the Royal Guard were apt to wear, and a similar sort of helm upon his head save that it also had a centrepiece coming down from between the eyes to protect his snout. The crest of his helmet was purple. Shadow's panoply of war was black, trimmed with purple lacquer, and on his shoulder was worked a serpent in emeralds, the symbol of the Viper family. In the centre of his chestpiece was the design of a golden sun pierced by a spear.

"You wear your cutie mark on your armour?" Twilight asked.

"This is the symbol of the First Spear of the Empire, the symbol of my office," Shadow replied.

"But it is also your cutie mark," Twilight said. "How did that happen?"

Shadow shrugged, "It was all I ever wanted to be."

"Twilight," Spike came running down the street, waving his stubby arms in excitement. "Twilight, from Canterlot, look!"

In the pale pre-dawn light, Twilight could make out silhouettes blocking out the fading stars, black shadowy forms sometimes glinting as they caught the light. A large number of pegasi and thestrals - in the gold and blue armour respectively - descended into Ponyville square. At their head was a golden pegasus, younger and smaller looking than many of the guardsponies, or even than Shining Armour who had been a young officer himself. The golden pegasus saluted Twilight as she approached.

"Princess Twilight," he said. "My name is Flash Sentry, Lieutenant of the Day Company. Princess Celestia sent me and my guards to assist you however you see fit."

"Thank you," Twilight said. "Did Princess Celestia send any...other message."

"Only that she trusted you to do what was best," Flash Sentry said.

_No reply about the Empire then._ Twilight said, "With the assistance of the ponies from the Risen Empire, which you may or may not know of, we have decided to fight. This is Lord Shadow Viper, he commands the Empire's forces."

Flash Sentry's eyes flashed at the sight of the dappled grey unicorn, "We don't need outside interference, we can handle it from here."

"Can you?" Shadow said. "As it happens I have given my word to the Lady Twilight to see this through. I do not intend to break my word."

"Then you'll do as I say."

"I'll do no such thing," Shadow replied.

"Why not?"

"Because it is not the Empire's policy to place its soldiers under the command of...outsiders," Shadow said. "Quite apart from which you do not look as though you have ever had to trust your life to that armour you wear so gallantly. Tell me boy how old are you?"

"Seventeen," Flash Sentry said defensively.

"By which age I had already fought in two great battles at Karidia and Kirrahe," Shadow said.

"I think it would be best if you did what Shadow Viper said for now," Twilight said. "He has been planning all night."

"How many ponies did you bring with you?"

"Sixty. Half pegasi, half thestrals, as many as we could must quickly," Flash Sentry said.

Speartip started sniggering.

"Something funny?"

"We brought twenty more ponies from another world than you did from your own capital," Speartip laughed.

"That'll do, Sergeant," Shadow said mildly. "I want your fliers on the flanks of my company, lieutenant. When the fighting breaks out, feint left and right and cause the savages to spread out, losing cohesion as they do so."

Flash Sentry looked at Twilight, who gave a barely perceptible nod. Flash snorted, "Very well. We'll play it your way. For now."

The battle line formed in the morning mist, the Empire ponies forming a block three lines deep, spearbutts to the ground, their dragon standard fluttering above their heads. Shadow Viper was some ten paces ahead of his ponies. On their flanks where the Canterlot guards, the pegasi upon the right and Luna's thestrals on the left. Flash Sentry was on the right with the pegasi.

Behind them was mustered all the strength of Ponyville, every pony willing to fight who was not needed elsewhere more urgently. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Big Mac, Braeburn, Snowflake, Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, Vinyl Scratch, the Mayor and her family, nearly everypony in Ponyville who wasn't a filly or an old mare. Twilight had assigned Fluttershy to take charge of the non-combatants and the medical staff in the town hall, and given her twenty solid ponies to protect the young and old. Almost all the rest were mustered as a second line to defend their homes against the dogs who would destroy it.

Twilight could not cast a full shield around the town hall without her personal presence, and she might be needed at the fighting, but she had enchanted the doors so that they could not be opened except from the inside, and cast strengthening charms on the doors and walls which would make them more resistant to being broken into. And Spike was there, to summon Princess Celestia to the aid of the children if the fighting went against them.

As the sun rose up above the horizon, the air was rent by a cacophony of growling, howling, barking sounds from off to the west. The source of the noise was still out of sight, but not hard to guess at. And it was getting closer: snarling shouts, animal yells, chilling shrieks, a symphony of sounds which spoke of death and unrestrained savagery drawing nearer and near. Mr Cake shuddered as he shrank from the sounds, a look of nervousness and fear crossed Filthy Rich's face, Pinkie's hair lost a little of its poofiness. Even Twilight had to admit the sheer volume of the noise, and what it represented, frightened her a little.

But then the Imperial soldiers in front of them began to howl. It was a bizarre sound, some strange and eerie combination of a wolf-howl, a banshee's wail and the whooping call of the northern buffalo. Their weird cry ripped from their throats so loud it struck the stars and moon, so loud that the Princesses must have heard it in Canterlot if Shining Armour and Cadance did not hear it in the Crystal Empire. And as they yelled they stamped their hooves in perfect unison and rammed their spear-butts into the ground, rattling spears against armour as they issued their challenge to the Diamond Dogs. It was a sound to make kingdoms tremble, to rattle thrones and topple towers, and Twilight was glad that those making that noise were facing away from them rather than towards.

And when they finally fell silent, all was quiet. The Diamond Dogs had quit first. It seemed they had won the shouting war at least.

She walked past the line of the Imperial ponies to where Shadow stood in advance of his battle line. He stood still as a statue in the royal gardens in Canterlot, facing the westward darkness while the dawn broke upon his back.

"You aren't afraid at all, are you?" Twilight asked. "None of you are?"

"Fear is not a choice, ma'am, but I have had many years and many battlefields in which to master it," Shadow replied. "And I have seen many things more worthy of trepidation than five hundred Diamond Dogs. And yet I hope that you do not acquire such immunity from fear."

"Why not?"

"Because that you feel fear at such things, that you have never heard of demons, that you know peace and innocence as you do, is proof that our long labours, our struggle and our sacrifice, have not been in vain. We are the Empire, chosen by fate to the Warders of the Worlds against the powers of evil. Your way of life is proof that we have not done ill in our assignment."

Twilight blinked, unsure what she could say in response to that.

Shadow shook his head, "They should have moved more swiftly, attacked in darkness."

"They can see as well in daylight."

"And we can see better, but that is not what I meant. Dawn will always bring hope to ponies who live in the light," Shadow said. "You had best return to your post, my lady, I fear it will begin soon. May the Light protect you."

Twilight began to go back, but some impulse made her stop and turn just as the Diamond Dog host appeared into view.

They were a mighty horde to her eyes. She wondered if Zecora's estimate of five hundred might not have been an underestimation. They were led by the trio that she recognised, the tall grey one, the heavily built one with the floppy ears, the little brown one, and around them were ranged more diamond dogs, the wealthy chieftains of their breed. They were armoured in diamond waistcoats, their helmets adorned with sapphires and rubies, the handles of their swords decorated with emeralds, garnets and amethysts of all colours. They formed the front ranks of the mass, grim and savage leers upon their faces as they advanced upon the pony town. Behind them were the dig dogs, armoured in iron, not in gems, and carrying spears and axes in their oversized paws. Inside their massive armour they looked to be half machine, automatons coated in flesh and brought alive by magic.

How could they stand against such numbers and such villainy?

"Lady Twilight," Shadow said calmly. "You really should return to the rear."

"What is this?" the leading Diamond Dog demanded. "Little ponies want to fight with us?" He began to laugh, and soon all the dogs were laughing with you, "You think that because you can make noise that makes you strong?"

"I think the Empress makes us strong," Shadow replied.

The dog snarled, "Empress, Empress, what is this Empress? We not know any Empress. Never mind. We want pony town. We take it! Kill you if you get in way. Scorpan make us strong, make us rich, he say: destroy Ponyville. You not interfere!"

"Now you listen to me you uncouth savages," Shadow spoke calmly, clearly and loudly. "You've had your say, now I'll have mine: my name is Lord Shadow Viper, by the grace of the Empress and the blessing of Megan Williams I am First Spear of the Risen Empire of the Sun Unconquerable. In the name of the Empress I order you to disperse your rabble at once, lay down your arms and make submission to the Empress and the Sun Throne. Or I will destroy you."

"Destroy us?" the leading dog laughed again. "Who you think you are?"

"I know who I am," Shadow smiled. "Apparently it is you that needs to be taught. Now!"

He charged for the diamond dogs, his horn glowing golden as he did so, giving off a gleaming aura that soon came to encompass his whole body, practically hiding the pony behind the golden magic that was pouring off of him. He was fast, faster than Applejack or Rainbow Dash (when she was on the ground), so fast that that the diamond dog had barely begun to raise his sword when Shadow struck him.

There was a crash, and a blinding flash of magic, then the dog fell dead upon the ground and Shadow stood over his body. The other diamond dogs roared in anger and pounced upon him, but he began to weave his way through them as if he were dancing his way through a crowded ballroom, never letting them touch him even as he lashed out with his spear left, right and centre.

The two wings of fliers took off, the pegasi breaking right and the thestrals breaking left. They landed, and the diamond dogs charged at them. The pegasi took off again, flying further off, drawing the diamond dogs out as they ran howling after the flying ponies. The once tightly packed diamond dog horde became spread out and diffuse like peas running wild across a plate. And their centre was being gutted by Shadow, who struck out everywhere with his spear or with combat spells Twilight hadn't seen before.

"Company, by the left, forward!" Lieutenant Sunburst called, and the Imperial horse began to advance to the beat of their snare drum. They began at a walk but swiftly increased to the trot. At halfway distance they began to canter, still keeping their lines perfectly in trim. Speartip and those few new ponies with those glowing weapons began to loose them at the diamond dogs, blasting them to the ground. The company began to howl once more as they quickened to the gallop and charged with a blood-curdling shriek into the Diamond Dogs. The dogs', hopelessly spread out now, crumbled before their onslaught. Lone diamond or dig dogs were swept away, slain or taken prisoner, and as they reached Shadow the company split into two, each heading to one of the wings of the battlefield to mop up the diamond dog flanks.

"Come on, ponies," Rainbow Dash yelled. "We can't let these guys take all the credit! Let's go!" And she led the good folk of Ponyville into battle. Twilight, shaking her head at the impetuosity of her friend, joined in. She struck down with magic those who opposed her, and did her best to protect her friends from harm. They did well - she saw Lyra in particular take down five dig dogs with her duelling skills - but by that point the battle had already been won. It had been won, she realised, before it even began.

The diamond dogs were running, abandoning their fallen as they took to their heels for home. They left in a much smaller number than they had arrived. The whole affair had taken only moments.

"Lord Viper," Sunburst said, surveying a field now empty of any foe not fallen or captured. "Would you care to do the honours?"

Shadow nodded, and raised his spear into the air, "Victory! Hail Sola Imperator! Glory to the Empire!"

"Hail Sola Imperator! Glory to the Empire!" the troops chorused, before launching into a yipping call of triumph that echoed up to the clouds.

"Lady Twilight," Shadow said. "I hope you've no objection to us taking these prisoners?"

"Why do you want them?"

"They will be sold to provide bounties for the soldiers who fought in this battle," Shadow said. "Pay is low in the Imperial army, but a good haul of slaves from a successful action can make even a private soldier rich."

_They have slaves? Slaves! _Slavery was practically unheard of in Equestria outside of irredeemable tyrants like King Sombra. Even the Griffons had abandoned the practice. Where it existed at all in the whole world it was the domain of the barbarous changelings and their ilk. "Um, I'd rather that you didn't-" Twilight began, but was cut off by loud shouting from the residents of Ponyville.

"Hooray for the saviours of Ponyville!" they began to stamp their hooves in appreciation for the efforts of the soldiers of the Empire.

"Oh my gosh we totally need to have a super fabulously awesome party to celebrate," Pinkie Pie said. "We can have a parade and a banner and cake and balloons and everypony can get medals then-"

"Pinkie, I'm not sure-" Twilight began before being interrupted again.

"LAY DOWN THY WEAPONS, KNAVES AND VILLAINS ALL!" the voice of Princess Luna echoed from the heavens as she and Princess Celestia, accompanied by hordes of pegasus and thestral guards, guards beyond count, descended from the clouds. Both the Princesses' horns glowed with magic, and both their brows where furrowed and dark with anger.

"Step away from those soldiers, everypony," Celestia commanded. "They, or their friends, have been kidnapping ponies all across Equestria!"


End file.
